Artist as a Young Man
Preserved but no longer current.
He also appears as a character in Ulysses. Dee, Dr. John Dee (1 527- 1 608) was a famous astrologer; he was patronized by Queen Elizabeth, and was a man of vast knowledge, whose library, museum, and mathematical instruments were valued at £2,000. On one occasion the populace broke into his house and destroyed the greater part of his valuable collection, under the notion that Dee held intercourse with the devil.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Artist as a Young Man” mean?
He also appears as a character in Ulysses. Dee, Dr. John Dee (1 527- 1 608) was a famous astrologer; he was patronized by Queen Elizabeth, and was a man of vast knowledge, whose library, museum, and mathematical instruments were valued at £2,000. On one occasion the populace broke into his house and destroyed the greater part of his valuable collection, under the notion that Dee held intercourse with the devil.
Is “Artist as a Young Man” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.